Pag-IBIG Fund extended socialized housing loans to 11,894 members from the minimum-wage and low-income sectors totaling P4.52 billion in the first half of 2019.
The figure represents nearly 30 percent of the total number of housing loans financed by the agency from January to June. Pag-IBIG Fund financed a record 41,746 housing loans amounting to P37.07 billion in the six-month period to help members acquire or improve their homes.
“Socialized housing is designed especially for minimum and low-wage workers. President Rodrigo Roa Duterte directed that there be government programs catering to this underserved sector, hence, we have this housing program that is suited for their financial capacity. This is the essence of the BALAI [Building Adequate, Livable, Affordable and Inclusive] Filipino Communities Program of the government’s housing sector towards providing decent shelter for every Filipino family,” said Secretary Eduardo del Rosario, chairperson of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council and Pag-IBIG Fund board of trustees.
Socialized housing loans are up to P580,000 for a 32 square-meter residential unit in a horizontal housing project. Under the Affordable Housing Loan Program, Pag-IBIG Fund maintains the lowest interest rate in the market of 3 percent per annum – a special rate it has provided for minimum and low-wage workers since May 2017.
Pag-IBIG Fund subsidizes the low-interest rate, being a tax-exempt agency as specified under Republic Act No. 9679.
“Our charter allows Pag-IBIG Fund to offer the lowest rates for home loans of minimum and low-wage workers. And aside from keeping our interest rates low, we also reduced the insurance premiums of our home loans. As a result, qualified borrowers under this program will pay an affordable monthly amortization of only P2,445.30 for a socialized housing loan worth P580,000,” Pag-IBIG Fund chief executive Acmad Rizaldy Moti said.
“All these are part of our efforts to provide the best home financing program for our members. That’s what Lingkod Pag-IBIG is all about,” Moti said.